Ballintubber Abbey

There is one thing that Ireland is know for that sets it apart from England, Scotland, and Wales in my mind. It is the faithfulness of the people of the Roman Catholic faith. They went through a lot, especially in the last couple of hundred years, to maintain their faith, their traditions, and, indeed, their way of life. If you visit Ireland now, you will find that many young people do not attend church, and this is not just those of the Catholic faith, but of the other churches in Ireland. The younger generation have demanded that Ireland be brought into the twenty-first century, even if it is kicking and screaming. This includes bringing peace to the island, especially in Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland has many more people of Protestant faiths, but, to me it seems that they don’t have the same number of ancient or medieval ruins as reminders of how ancient the land is and the people who were first there. That being said, the Republic is home to a great number of abbeys that are no longer used and haven’t been for hundreds of years. However, there are some that have been renovated to use as tourist destinations and some for use by the surrounding neighbourhood. Ballintubber Abbey is one of the abbeys that combine the two purposes.

Ballintubber Abbey has been there in one form or another since 1216. Prior to that, there was a tradition that St Patrick baptised people in the small river at the back of where the Abbey now stands. There is also a trail leading from there to the top of Croagh Patrick where St Patrick is reputed to have fasted for forty days in the mid 400s AD. This mountain is the third tallest mountain in County Mayo. The trail was used in the past for a pilgrimage to the top of the mountain when pilgrimages to Jerusalem were discontinue when the Saracens recaptured the Holy Land. Eventually, even these pilgrimages petered out.

The Abbey is surrounded by a magnificent cemetery. There are very old headstones as well as modern ones. The Abbey also has a Way of the Cross which faithful Catholics follow, especially in time for Easter. There is a Rosary Way, an underground crib, and a small museum. I did not get a chance to visit the museum as our schedule had to be kept.

The Abbey was severely damaged during the Cromwellian years, but the people still continued to meet on the grounds throughout the years. Just prior to 1966, a new roof was put on the roofless building in time for the 750^th anniversary. Recently, there have been renovations on the building and its interior in time for the 800^th anniversary which was or is being held this year (2016).

This building costs a lot of money to restore and maintain. In order to raise funds, the Abbey is open to tourists who are given a tour of the cemetery, along with the Way of the Cross and the Rosary Way, and inside the building itself. Pilgrimages are held at six times a year, Easter, and then once in May, June, July, August, and December. These pilgrimages are the same as is described above. Ballintubber Abbey is a popular choice of location for weddings of both local people and celebrities. Once celebrity wedding in 2001 was for Irish actor Pierce Brosnan and his wife, American journalist Keely Shay Smith. For those of you who don’t know who Pierce Brosnan is, he had the title role of Remington Steele in the American TV series of the same name, and he also played James Bond in a number of James Bond movies.

I enjoyed visiting Ballintubber Abbey as I do have an interest in history and in religious history. I would like to go back to study the Abbey and the surrounding area more and to collect the stories that abound about St Patrick. 

Eddies Bar

When the bookings were done for our tour, the tour company did one of our hotel bookings in the wrong location in error. When they tried to correct the mistake, they were unable to because of the hotel being full because of a concert in the area. To make up for this error, they offered to pay for one of our lunches. Because our bus driver knew the route and the businesses along it, the company agreed to let him choose the restaurant. He chose Eddies Bar.

Eddies Bar is in Clonbur, Galway, which is in the middle of Joyce country. Clonbur is a village that is surrounded by mountains and lakes. Lough Corrib and Lough Mask are on either side of Clonbur and are famous for their fishing. Mount Gable is only three kilometers away from the village.

The village does have a history that goes back to the 13^th century, but, unfortunately, I was not able to do some quick research on it. It will entail more time than what I currently have to dig it all out.

I found it interesting that it is in the middle of Joyce country. When I found this out, it made me think of an acquaintance of mine from the mid 1970s. It reminded me that he was of Irish descent. I only had contact with him for about one and a half years.

Eddies Bar is located in the Fairhill House Hotel. It seems to be one of the local gathering areas and is appreciated by those in the transportation sector who have need of travelling through Clonbur.

When we arrived, they had actually put together two areas for us as they don’t usually get such a large group as what we were. Our driver had actually contacted them and had them suggest two or three choices on the menu. He then passed a sheet around and had us choose from these choices. He had highly recommended the fish and chips.

My choice was the fish and chips. I enjoyed the meal immensely. I think that everyone appreciated their choices and the atmosphere that surrounded us while we were there.

Would I go back to Eddies Bar? By all means, yes, I would. I would have like to stay longer to get to know some of the people, but, when you are on a tour, there is a schedule that must be kept.

If you are in the neighbourhood of Clonbur, you should try Eddies Bar at least once. I bet that you will go back a second time if you have the chance.

This final picture is the bridge that leads to the accommodations that were used for the cast and crew of "The Quiet Man". There are stories about John Wayne and others that I will leave you to remember and discover.

The Quiet Man Tour

In 1952, John Ford directed a movie called “The Quiet Man”. The stars were John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara. Most of the indoor scenes were filmed in the United States, but all of the outdoor scenes were filmed in Ireland. There were a number of places used for filming in County Galway and County Mayo. However, the outdoor scenes of the village were filmed in the Village of Cong in County Mayo.

The village thrives on the income from the tourists who go to visit where the legendary John Wayne starred in a movie that won two Oscars. There is a building that has a museum dedicated to the movie with a number of artefacts that were left behind when the movie cast and crew moved out. They even have a bronze statue of John Wayne carrying Maureen O’Hara in a prominent spot in the village.

Some of the villagers earns their incomes from conducting walking tours of the village. This tour was different from other walking tours that we had while in Ireland. Every stop was the place of one of the scenes of the movie. The guide would choose one of the members of our tour to play a part in the “movie” or story.

At the end of the tour, we were gathered into the museum where the final scene of the movie was re-enacted. The tour members previously chosen for parts continued in their part in this scene along with additional members. My brother was chosen for one of the parts, originally as the husband of a couple. This was hilarious as he is not married. When the guide was told that he was not married, the guide looked at him, then looked at me several times. Each time the guide looked at me, my comment was, “He’s my brother.” So my brother then became the Catholic priest and another couple were chosen. There was also a part for a Church of Ireland minister which was given to the bus driver. I found it quite amusing as my brother is Anglican and the bus driver is Catholic.

The final scene was played out and time was then devoted to purchasing souvenirs. This was followed by a walk up the street to the bus and a trip back to the hotel in Westport for the night.

When I heard that we would be visiting Cong because of its relationship to the movie, I wondered why and I didn’t think that I would enjoy the stop. Because it was done differently from other walking tours, it became more interesting to me and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

You can get a lot out of a walking tour if you are interested in the area and subject matter. You can also learn a lot about an area if the tour is done in such a way that everyone has fun while doing it. I personally am interested in history and visiting a site just because a movie was made there doesn’t make sense to me. The way the presentation was done made it more interesting to me. Yes, I am a fan of John Wayne, but, no, I am not interested in visiting places just because he was there. Now, if you were to invite me to a place where the next Star Wars movie is being filmed while they are there, then yes, I am interested in going because I want to learn how they make things work.

I can fully commend that you should visit the Village of Cong in County Mayo and enjoy “The Quiet Man” walking tour.

Updating Technology

Dearly Beloved, we are gather together to witness the death of a faithful printer.

For about 10 years, you gave us no problems except your ever present hunger for ink. You survived through 2 major moves, 3 cats, and 1 dog. How I will miss you. Your successor will never match your capabilities.

NOT.

My Canon MX300 was purchased about 10 years ago. Yes, there were 3 cats and a dog in the household at the time that it was purchased. There were also 2 major moves, to Petawawa and then to Gander.

I did have another printer that I could have used but the cost of the ink was more exorbitant than the Canon printer. Both printers were removed from the house today.

The MX300 actually did die on Wednesday and it's very hard to find ink for the Lexmark. I called Canon today to confirm the printer's death.

I now have a Canon mf4770n printer which has a top load feeder for scanning and copying purposes. I can now scan legal sized documents and get the whole document in pdf. I also chose this model as it is a laser printer and the toner works out to be much more inexpensive than the ink jet. I will get between 2000 to 2500 printouts per toner cartridge. The cost of a toner cartridge will be about $89.00 each but each one will last at least six months. I was spending about $65.00 for a black cartridge and a colour cartridge a month and I did most of my printing in black and white. I purchased the printer for just over $200.00.

How did I come to the realization of the savings that this move would give me? Well, more than a year ago, I became friends with Dave. Dave is from Tennessee and was working in Chalk River. He is a member of our church and his wife was a family history center director in Tennessee at the time. She may still be. He needed a printer while up here and we had the Lexmark that we gave to him to use while there so that he didn’t have to go out and purchase another printer. At home, he and his wife has a Brother multi-function laser jet printer which takes the toner cartridges. They are a fair amount of money as well. But, even though their printing needs are fairly high compared to most older couples, it was worth going this route. The cost per copy is in the neighbourhood of $0.04 a copy for the laser jet vice $0.26 a copy for the ink jet. This is a no-brainer.

Last year, I also did a lot of scanning before we moved to Newfoundland. Yes, you can use a flat-bed scanner to scan documents, but if you have a lot of scanning to do, it will take forever. Last year, I was able to use a relatively high-speed scanner and I was able to scan a lot more documents than I otherwise would have been able to. I was able to shred a lot of paperwork that I wanted to keep because I was able to scan it. I did get a new flat-bed scanner and have been using it since I have been here, but it’s a lot slower than what my new printer will be able to do. It also cannot scan legal-sized documents. The new printer can because of the automatic feeder. I am looking forward to using this. I have some documents now that I should have done earlier this year, but I wasn’t looking forward to using the flat-bed.

I could also use my new printer as a fax machine, but technology today does not really need the fax function. It’s nice to know that I have it if I need it. The MX300 also had that capability but I did not need to use it.

One thing that this printer does that the MX300 could never do is that it can be used wirelessly. You do need to wire it into the router, but that’s all. You can have more than one device print to it. My laptop is connected. I haven’t had time to try my tablet yet. I’m also thinking that there is a way that my husband can connect his tablet. It’s nice that this can be done. It took me a while to figure it out but I did.

The size is a nice size. It fits nicely on the top of a letter size filing cabinet. It’s taller than the MX300, but the length and width are almost the same. My new printer is now in the same spot that the MX300 was. The only difference is I cannot use it to pile paperwork on. I did that all the time with the MX300.

Here’s to the old printer that lasted much longer than most people expected and to the new technology that should last even longer. This is a great addition to my family history tools.

Connemara Lady

Did you know that there is a fjord in Ireland? It is called the Killary Fjord and is nine miles long. It forms part of the border between County Mayo and County Galway. There is an attraction there that can be quite relaxing in the right temperatures and the right weather.

There is a company in Killary Harbour that runs tours on a catamaran. What, you don’t know what a catamaran is? Well, a catamaran is a multi-hulled boat or ship. They can be as small as a sailboat or a rowboat or as large as a naval ship or car ferry. They gain their stability in water from the width of the vessel. These vessels were first developed by Polynesian people as early as 1500 BCE when they strapped together two canoes together with a wooden frame. Some of them used sails and they did not have ballasted hulls.

The company in Killary Harbour has a catamaran by the name of Connemara Lady. It will hold up to 150 people for a tour of the fjord which takes approximately an hour and a half to do. There is a bar and a meal menu which is not included in the price of the tour. Their brownies are good. I had one of them and was almost tempted to get a second one. Because we were there in late April, the weather was kind of rain mixed with sun and windy. Just remember. This is Ireland. They have a fair amount of rain and wind. They are on the Atlantic side of England, Wales, and Scotland. I personally found it too cold to do the trip out in the fresh air, so I stayed in the cabin. I was still able to get some good pictures.

The scenery is fabulous. The hills seem to rise out of the water on both sides of the fjord and you can see the sheep on the hills. There are a couple of roads that can be seen, but they also seem to disappear the closer that you get to the Atlantic Ocean. The scenery that we saw had a lot of brown in it, but I am sure that had we been there a month later, we would have seen a great deal more green.

I would have enjoyed the trip more if it had been warmer, but on the other hand, because we were so early in the season, we were able to have our tour without any other passengers. We had plenty of room to move around. Yes, I would go on the trip again in warmer weather. Yes, I think that you should include this tour in at least one trip to Ireland.

Westport House

If you go to County Mayo in Ireland, Westport House is one place that you should go see. The house itself dates back to 17^th century and has a lot of history. It is said to be built on the foundation of one of the O’Malley castles.

Grace O’Malley, born about 1530, was the daughter of Eoghan Dubhdara Ó Máille who was the chieftain of the O’Malley clan at the time. They were based in Clew Bay in County Mayo. There is a story that Grace wished to travel to Spain with her father. However, she was told no because her hair was too long. She then proceeded to cut her hair to embarrass her father into taking her. It seems that she may have stowed away onboard ship, not coming out until they were far enough away from land to prevent her from being sent back.

Grace appears to have been well educated, but may not have understood nor spoke the English language. When her father passed on, Grace inherited his shipping and trading business. It is said that she did well in this business.

Why do I mention Grace O’Malley when this is about Westport House? Easy. As I said earlier, it is believed that Westport House was built on the foundation of one of the O’Malley castles. Westport House was originally built by Colonel John Browne who was married to Grace’s great-great-granddaughter, Maude Burke. The house was expanded by various descendants throughout the years.

Westport House survived Cromwell’s invasion, rebellion, famine, and more. Most of the Browne family looked after the house well, but, as in every family, there were a few family members who spent money lavishly. The Browne family, like the O’Malley family in prior times, cared about the people on the estate and in Westport. The Browne family had a plantation in Jamaica and did own slaves, but these were some of the first slaves freed in Jamaica. The family continued to employ their former slaves on their plantation.

The Browne family also worked towards the emancipation of the Catholics in Ireland. During the Great Famine, rather than let their tenants fend for themselves and suffer, they imported meal through Westport quay and fed their tenants at their house. The cauldrons that were used to cook the meal are still there. They also supported the area’s workhouse which was the only shelter for the local people who were destitute. All this was done when there was no money coming in.

Once the famine was over, the Earl then began to revolutionize the farming methods used by the estate. This was done in order to start to put the estate back on a sound financial footing. The estate was almost bankrupt by this time. Things began to turn around.

Westport House was open to the public starting in 1960. Because this was done, the community also began to prosper. Westport House also has other attractions such as a pirate adventure, a camp ground, and is a venue for local festivities. The grounds are magnificent and the house is fabulous. I personally enjoyed the tour and I loved wandering through the dungeons. It’s worth going to visit.

Drumcliffe, County Sligo

About eight kilometres north of Sligo Town, on a low gravel ridge between the Mountain of Ben Bulben and Drumcliffe Bay is a village by the name of Drumcliffe. The original name was Cnoc na Teagh and is a possible location of the settlement named Nagnata as shown on Claudius Ptolemy’s map of Ireland. This village has a rich history.

At the edge of the village is the local church, St Columba’s Church of Ireland. A number of famous people are buried there. It also has some extremely old burial plots that have the celtic cross as headstones.

One of Drumcliffe’s more recent residents was W.B. Yeats. William Butler Yeats was born in 1865 in Sandymount, Ireland, and, because his paternal grandmother was from County Sligo, spent a great deal of time in the county as a child. One of the things that our bus driver had said about Yeats was that he asked Maud Gonne to marry him three times but she said no every time. Years later, there was a proposition of marriage from her daughter which he declined.

W.B. Yeats died in 1939 in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France. In 1948, his remains were brought back to Drumcliffe and reinterred in the cemetery at this church. Many people go to the cemetery to visit his grave. 

Donegal Castle

In the town of Donegal on Tyrconnell Street, you can visit a castle that was originally built in 1474 by Sir Hugh O’Donnell, the chief of the O’Donnell clan at the time. It is situated on a bend the Eske River. The site was chosen for defense purposes.

The castle stayed in O’Donnell hands until 1607 when the O’Donnell leaders left Ireland in the flight of the Earls. This was precipitated by the English who decided to rid Ireland of the “pesky” Irish chieftains. The O’Donnell chief at the time was Hugh Roe O’Donnell. Hugh decided that if the English were to have his home, he certainly would not make it easy for them, and the castle was torched.

The next owner of the castle and its grounds was Captain Basil Brooke. He must not have found the torched castle very comfortable as he rebuilt it in 1623. The style that he chose for the addition of a wing was a Jacobean manor style. He also added windows and a gable. The castle stayed in the Brooke family for many years until, in the 18^th century, it was in a ruinous condition.

The Earl of Arran made a donation of it to the Office of Public Works in 1898. I believe that he just didn’t want to spend the money to restore or to tear down what remained of the castle.

The castle was partially restored in 1989 to 1996 and still has the original cobblestone floors. It also has the original trip stairs. These stairs can be quite trick to navigate. All the steps are at uneven heights to trip any sword fighters coming up the stairs. They also turn to the right to give the defenders an edge the fighting.

The garderobes were designed so that enemy soldiers would not be able to either use a spear or shoot an arrow up the chute taking the waste down to the river.

Currently, the castle is open to the public for tours. They allow 35 people on each tour and the tours last for approximately 30 minutes. The castle is also used to hold special events such as Gaelic festivals.

When we were there, it was enjoyable to stretch our legs after being on the bus for a couple of hours. We followed the tour guide, except some of us used the newer staircase rather than use the trip stairs for reasons of safety. 

The Reality of Life in Victorian Times

I want you to close your eyes, or, better still, open your internal mind’s eye, the one that allows you to see what your imagination paints for you. I want to take you to a time when personal affairs were much simpler, but could be more dangerous. I want to imagine your ancestors of approximately 150 years ago. The year is 1849. The location is Carrickfergus, Ireland. The Great Famine is over, but the effects are still evident. You can walk down the road towards town, and while doing so, you pass a number of houses, some of which the former inhabitants have left to go to either America or Canada. Other empty houses belonged to those who didn’t have the money to buy food to replace the potato crops that failed over the previous few years. Many of these people lost energy and, eventually, the will to live. These are the people who starved to death in their homes on the estates that were supposed to look after the people that lived there. It seems that those that emigrated were the lucky ones.

Now, I want you to imagine a man, one who is shabbily dressed and looking around to see if anyone is looking. This man is in the process of going into a root cellar of a house that looks well kept. He makes it into the cellar and, after about ten minutes, emerges, with his arms full of vegetables. He looks around before coming out of the cellar to make sure that there is no one around. He can’t see anyone, but that doesn’t mean that the way is clear. He tries to stay in the shadows and tries to work his way over to the gap in the hedge. He sees no one on the grounds. He makes it to the hedge and starts to crawl through, pushing his load of vegetables ahead of him. He has left a family member on the other side to help him carry the vegetables to his home. As he crawls through, he softly calls his companion. He doesn’t hear any answer, but doesn’t think anything of it, assuming that his companion had moved down the road. As he stands up near the road and picks up his load of vegetables, he thinks that he will have to go looking for his partner. Looking up, he sees his partner, who is being held by the servant of the house. Standing beside the servant is the owner of the house that he had just visited, who is waiting with other servants and a few members of the local police. At this point, both of these men are arrested and taken to the County Gaol in Belfast.

The crime that these men would be charged with is theft. It doesn’t matter that it was food that they stole. It doesn’t matter that, without this food, they would starve to death. It doesn’t matter that they cannot earn the money to feed themselves and their families. They took something that didn’t belong to them. End of story.

Actually, that was not the end of story for many people. These people were lumped in with people who instigated rebellion, stole for other reasons, committed murder, and so forth. The innocent, who were just looking to survive, were children, men, women, and they did not do so lightly. It was against their principles to do so, but it became a choice of life and death.

Carrickfergus was the location of the county gaol prior to 1845. It was also the county seat, looking after the affairs of two counties, County Carrickfergus, which was a county in its own right, and County Antrim. Eventually, County Carrickfergus ended up as part of County Antrim. The gaol was large enough to hold 250 prisoners, of both sexes and all ages. I haven’t been able to find why a new gaol was built in Belfast, but, in 1841, Charles Lanyon designed a new gaol to be built. The actual building was not started until 1843 and was finished in 1845. Prisoners were to be transferred from Carrickfergus to Belfast and the gaol in Carrickfergus was to be closed. One hundred and six prisoners were transferred in 1846. They had to walk the entire way from Carrickfergus to Belfast, a distance of over 40 miles.

Once the prisoners arrived in Belfast, they were taken to the Crumlin Road Gaol and put into individual cells. This prison was built in such a way that prisoners could be isolated when necessary. The cells were mostly used as individual cells, but they occasionally held as many as three prisoners each. The Crumlin Road Gaol was designed with five wings, a hospital building and a small graveyard with additions added later including cottages for prison staff. Four of the five wings housed the prisoners on three levels with Block A being the largest wing. I believe that Block C was the wing that held the female prisoners and maybe also the children. Children were sent to gaol just for stealing a loaf of bread or an article of clothing. History tells us that one such child, Patrick Magee, was sentenced to three months in the Crumlin Road Gaol. He was so desperate that he hung himself in 1858. After this time, children were not allowed to housed in the same facilities as adults.

The Crumlin Road Gaol was across the road from the courthouse. There are passages underground that lead towards the former location of the courthouse. That courthouse had been bombed during the troubled time and was torn down. The passages are now blocked off for public safety.

The gaol also carried out death sentences. Originally, the hangings were done in public where all could see that the sentence was carried out. In 1901, there was a modification done in Block C. One cell was enlarged to more than twice the size of a normal cell. This cell was used for the last days of a condemned prisoner. When the appropriate time approached, the prisoner would be taken through to the execution chamber through a passage that no other prisoner could see. The prisoner was hung and, when dead, was buried. There were a total of seventeen executions held at the Crumlin Road Gaol with the last one being in 1961.

One of the things that prisoners look forward to is to be free. The prison had a number of prison breaks, but it still was still known as Europe’s Alcatraz.

It was decided that the Crumlin Road Gaol would be closed. This happened in 1996. It stood empty until 2010 when it was announced that it would be renovated. In 2012, it opened as a tourist attraction and conference center.

On our tour of Ireland, one of the places that we visited was the Crumlin Road Gaol. We arrived after dark fell, and it has an imposing feeling when you can’t see the facility in daylight. We were taken into the facility through the same door that prisoners would have been taken in. We had a tour of the facility, visiting the administration wing and only one wing of the prison cells, Block C. We had the opportunity of viewing the execution chamber, going in the same way that a condemned prisoner went in. In all, the visit to Crumlin Road Gaol was an eye opener to some of the things that were experienced by some of our ancestors.

Our ancestors had hard lives. Even the poorest in Canada have a better life than most of our ancestors. We need to celebrate their lives, that they had the stamina and determination to live and to improve life for their children and painted the dream of a good life for their children for inspiration to continue down the same road.